Nate4Prez: My Man. Wanna hear a funny but true little story? The best seats I've ever sat in at a blazer game were two rows behind Paul Allen one time a few years back. First real court side experience. Well during that game Darius slashed and threw down a monster dunk right in my face and I was sold on his talent. Believe it or not I even bought a jersey (they had a two for one deal at champs). Like you I was concerned about the treatment of Miles after his surgery but during his rehabilitation it all came clear to me when I had a chance encounter with him downtown. I was coming down the smart-park elevator near Pioneer Place and when the doors open what do I see, Darius standing there next to a vivacious girl with two GIANT shopping bags one on each side. Like I was amazed she was carrying all of that stuff by herself. I never truly believed D. Miles just loved the "lifestyle" until this chance encounter. I mean seriously couldn't he just gave her his credit card. Bottom line is we gave him too much, and he took advantage of us. After all he's gotten and hasn't given, we owe him no kind treatment. Business is business. For real man go put that sticker back on the car. We've come miles, and our franchise has done a three sixty, shit had to happen along the way. You gotta look to the future bro and Rise With Us.
The trouble with giant "shopping bags" is that they really sag when they get older. But it's good that she has one on each side. Symmetry is important. barfo
My current opinions: -- Boston and Memphis each decided to take a cheap chance on a player that probably wouldn't work out. Memphis, in particular, knows that it will more than make back his salary, and they have a roster spot, so they have nothing to lose. There's nothing unethical or immoral or conflicted. They're acting both within the rules of the CBA and in the Grizzlies' best interest. -- The email was hollow. The claims that it would have to litigate would have to have the support of evidence that I can't imagine existing, let alone being unambiguous. -- The Player Association grievance will either be dropped or go nowhere because no damage has been done to Miles. -- Miles will play out another 10 day contract, get past 10 games, and not play in the NBA the rest of the year. It sucks for Portland, but this isn't THAT surprising, given Boston's willingness to give him a chance in the preseason. Ed O.
it's not a big deal dude. yes, it was childish, yes, miles is healthy enough to play, yes, we don't deserve the salary reduction. those things aren't enough for one's support of the team to wane. it's ok to support the blazers and laugh at the way they handled this at the same time.
Wow. You made it through all of the JailBlazers nonsense, and THIS has you all in a twist? Grow a pair.
Maybe you should get a grip and realize that Darius was a horrible Blazer. Not only was he an idiot, but he had no desire to play the game professionally, but only to collect his check. There's a reason why NBA doctors deemed him unfit to play, because he's a lazy piece of trash that doesn't care anything about the team concept. Your license plate holders sound like they're better off in someone else's hands anyways.
Where does the team concept show up in a medical exam? It's gotta be located somewhere near the stomach, right? But seriously, it is sort of interesting to see how a couple of bone-headed moves by the guys calling the shots can generate such sympathy for a guy that has been pretty universally accepted to be a jackass.
The team concept includes working to get fit to play when your injured so you can come back and help the team and fulfill the reason that player signed a contract. Miles was always a player that took the NBA for granted.
What if they save one of his two games for this game? Wouldn't that help the Blazers with their lawsuit?
you mean? "While well-known for our land-use and commercial real estate practices, we also provide many other legal services." http://www.foster.com/industryDetail.aspx?display=1&industry=10 Or do you mean? Vice President, General CounselMike Fennell has served as vice president and general counsel for the TrailBlazers since 1992. Fennell, who assists with all of the Trail Blazers legal issuesincluding providing support on player contract negotiations and other team-related issues, also services as general counsel for other Paul Allen affiliatesthat operate in Portland.Previously, Fennell was a partner in the law firm ofFoster Pepper & Shefelman and was one of the attorneys who represented PaulAllen when he acquired the team in 1988. Fennell holds a bachelor of sciencein business administration from the University of Oregon and is a graduate ofthe University of Oregon Law School. His community involvement has includedserving on several boards, among them the Ronald McDonald House Charitiesof Oregon and Southwest Washington; the University of Oregon Law SchoolAlumni Board; the American Red Cross-Oregon Trail Chapter; the Oregon Leukemia Society of America,and the Multnomah Metro Family YMCA. Either way, they are over their heads. The suit would be coordinated by fancy NY lawyers Proskauer Rose, on the NBA side http://www.proskauer.com/practice_areas/areas/062 , and the legal department of the union would be very interested as well. These guys have more experience dealing with complex litigations on these matters every week than Paul Allen's lawyers from Portland get in a lifetime. Hardly a fair fight. This one is done, anyway. There won't be any lawsuit. But just so you know...... For a better idea of what we are talking about here, who would you want to represent you? Proskauer Rose, the NBA's lawyers (who would get involved because of the union exposure created here), or Paul Allen's lawyers from Portland? Some credentials: Proskauer currently serves as counsel on a broad variety of matters to the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, the ATP Tour, the WNBA, Major League Soccer, and the National Basketball Development League. Proskauer also has advised numerous purchasers and prospective purchasers of professional sports teams (including the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets and Montreal Expos), and has handled matters for other sports entities such as the United States Olympic Committee; World Cup USA 1994, Inc.; the Ladies Professional Golf Association; the New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals and Anaheim Angels. Proskauer's distinguished alumni hold senior business and legal positions with a variety of sports leagues, sports teams and other sports-related entities, and include NBA Commissioner David Stern and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. On a daily basis, Proskauer's Sports Law Group applies the broad interdisciplinary skills needed to resolve the business issues and disputes that affect sports clients in the highly competitive entertainment and media marketplace. The Sports Law Group consists of numerous transactional, tax, labor, litigation, antitrust, real estate, bankruptcy, intellectual property and new media lawyers with extensive experience in sports matters. A sampling of their experience follows. Litigation Proskauer has handled litigations and antitrust proceedings involving virtually every significant issue affecting the sports industry, including: whether sports leagues should be treated as single entities under the antitrust laws, including the three-month jury trial in which Major League Soccer prevailed control of the domestic and international telecast rights to games and the related intellectual property issues, including the "superstation" litigation involving the Chicago Bulls, WGN and the NBA, and the DirecTV class action litigation involving the NHL major internal investigations, including representing the NHL in connection with certain allegations regarding gambling development of stadiums, including successfully defending legal challenges to the rights of the New York Jets to proceed in developing a stadium on New York's West Side the right of NHL teams to contract with various players to whom the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and its teams have claimed exclusive rights, including obtaining successful decisions permitting Alex Ovechkin and Nicholai Zherdev to continue playing in the United States the scope of rights between general and limited partners in a professional sports club, including the successful defense of fraud and breach of partnership agreement allegations against the majority general partner of an MLB club in a multiweek international arbitration the scope of most favored nations provisions, including obtaining many millions of dollars for an NFL team in a dispute with its stadium landlord enforcing the contractual and intellectual property rights of licensors domestically and internationally notification proceedings before the European Commission and investigations by European domestic regulatory bodies on behalf of leagues the scope of rights of first refusal and rights of first negotiation provisions in a wide variety of contexts, including in an arbitration before the NFL Commissioner involving a dispute among the owners of a team the right of a league to determine who its members will be and other related issues involving expansion opportunities and the location of its clubs, including cases such as Charlotte Rage v. AFL, Hunt Sports v. NHL, and SDC v. NBA the right of a league or circuit to determine its eligibility rules or to set its annual schedule, including successfully defending multiple antitrust challenges by players and by tournaments against the ATP Tour the obligations of teams and leagues to comply with the ADA, including defense of a challenge to the seating availability at Yankee Stadium numerous bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings that have affected the sports industry, including the bankruptcies of CCM, Marvel, Starter, Pro Player, Pinnacle and the Pittsburgh Penguins the right of a league to reduce the number of its teams without incurring continued contract obligations to its players, including a trial victory in Bishop v. MLS OR Sports Law and Team Representations Our Sports lawyers represent prominent professional sports teams, including the Seattle SuperSonics, Seattle Storm, Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, and various other sports teams in, among others, litigation, corporate, employment and finance matters. We have represented our sports clients before arbitration panels, federal or state courts and agencies, and in mediation.
For the most part, I agree with this. The one aspect that we don't know is exactly what triggered the Blazers to send out that e-mail. I think almost everyone is assuming that it was an ill-considered move and that the Blazers have nothing to back up their position. That may be the case, but it could also be that there's more to this than we know. Suppose there were a smoking gun e-mail from a Memphis executive to another team in the league talking about screwing the Blazers over that somehow got forwarded to the Blazers? Pure conjecture, obviously, but it would certainly change the situation. My only point is that there're a whole lot of opinions being offered here and they're all based upon only what has been made public so far. There could be more to the story than we know.
I thought about this a little yesterday, but one has to think that if this were true, it's probably not Memphis since they went ahead with his signing. I'm guessing if there was some hard evidence it was/is on another organization.
Either that, or Memphis doesn't know about the e-mail, or thinks that by playing Miles enough they can overcome any legal challenge.
it is painfully obvious that there will be no legitimate "legal challenge" against the grizzlies for signing a basketball player who wants to play basketball. the blazers tried to pull a fast one by classifying this player as out-for-his-career when he is not even currently injured. they got called on it. i don't have a problem with the plan, as it was in our best interests. the childish, kevin mchale-ish manner in which it was handled is another story. a fun drama for us fans, but time for the team to move on, as i'm sure they will.
